Personal identity and practical reason

In this thesis, I argue that the interdependence between personal identity and practical concerns is overstated. In paradigmatic places where philosophers and common sense suggest that personal identity constrains how we should reason and care, or vice versa, the two spheres are in fact neutral to each other. I defend this claim by considering four specific cases. First, a rough characterization of the distinction between the complex and the simple view is that the former takes personal identity to consist in other relations, whereas the latter does not. I argue that the extreme claim according to which the complex view fails to give reasons for future-directed concern can be resisted. We maintain forward-looking attitudes and projects not because someone will be us, but because we relate to future selves in other, more important ways. Second, I argue that intuitions in a range of popular imaginary cases are contaminated by practical concerns whose relevance for personal identity is far from straightforward. Third, I argue that on a closer look, the complex versus simple distinction is confused. It thus cannot be what grounds differences in judgements on what matters. Debates about personal identity should be framed in terms of better understood notions. Finally, I argue that it is not a constraint on rational transformative choice that decision-maker and transforming individual are identical. Moreover, whether we are deciding for ourselves or for others - the importance of informed consent for transformative treatments is not diminished by the decision-maker's failure to projectively imagine the outcomes."I am grateful for funding from the German Academic Exchange Ser- vice (DAAD) and the Royal Institute of Philosophy as well as a fee waiver from the University of St Andrews. I also thank the University of St Andrews and my supervisors for allowing me to take a leave of absence for an internship with the Global Health Ethics Unit of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. The internship was support by a Carlo Schmid Fellowship from DAAD." - Acknowledgement

Rapid qualitative review of ethical issues surrounding healthcare for pregnant women or women of reproductive age in epidemic outbreaks

This article describes, categorizes, and discusses the results of a rapid literature review aiming to provide an overview of the ethical issues and corresponding solutions surrounding pregnancies in epidemic outbreaks. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization to inform responses to the Zika outbreak that began in 2015. Due to the urgency of the response efforts that needed to be informed by the literature search, a rapid qualitative review of the literature published in PubMed was conducted. The search and analysis were based on the operationalization of 3 key concepts: ethics, pregnancy, and epidemic outbreak. Ethical issues and solutions were interpreted within a principlist framework. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The search identified 259 publications, of which the full text of 23 papers was read. Of those, 20 papers contained a substantive part devoted to the topic of interest and were therefore analyzed further. We clustered the ethical issues and solutions around 4 themes: uncertainty, harms, autonomy/liberty, and effectiveness. Recognition of the identified ethical issues and corresponding solutions can inform and improve response efforts, public health planning, policies, and decision-making, as well as the activities of medical staff and counselors who practice before, during, or after an epidemic outbreak that affects pregnant women or those of reproductive age. The rapid review format proved to be useful despite its limited data basis and expedited review process

Against the complex versus simple distinction

This paper examines three proposals on the difference between complex and simple views about personal identity: Parfit’s original introduction of the distinction, Gasser and Stefan’s definition and Noonan’s recent proposal. I argue that the first two classify the paradigm cases of simplicity as complex, while Noonan’s proposal makes simplicity and complexity turn on features whose relevance for the distinction is questionable. Given these difficulties, I examine why we should be interested in whether a position is complex or simple. I describe two purposes of having a distinction, and show that extant accounts of the complex vs. simple distinction fail to serve these. I argue that unless we find a satisfying account of the difference between complex and simple positions, we should not frame discourses on personal identity in these terms.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Roles of National Ethics Committees in Pandemics. Orientation in Times of Crisis

Pandemics such as SARS, pandemic influenza, and Covid-19 raise a variety of ethical questions for policy-makers and societies as a whole. National Ethics Committees have been playing an increasingly important role in public discourse and policy advice in many countries since the 1990s. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these bodies have gained a new level of public attention

Data justice and data solidarity

Datafication shapes and gradually transforms societies. Given this impact, issues of justice around data-driven practices have received more and more attention in recent years as shown, for example, by various reports and guidelines on artificial intelligence and data ethics. In this article, we elaborate on and defend two claims. First, these discourses on justice tend to center primarily around conceptions of fairness. We argue that justice in connection with datafication relates to, but ultimately encompasses more than, solely fairness. Second, although it is an important project to clarify what justice in connection with datafication encompasses, we argue that attention toward attitudes and practices of data solidarity have so far been largely overlooked. They are, however, indispensable as a catalytic element to advance toward data justice in practice

Datensouveränität

In diesem Open-Access-Buch untersuchen wir, was Datensouveränität aus ethischer und rechtlicher Perspektive bedeuten kann und entwickeln mittels des Modells der dynamischen Einwilligung konkrete Governance-Ansätze für den Gesundheitsbereich. Im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung stellt uns der verantwortungsvolle Umgang mit Daten vor eine Herausforderung: Mögliche Fortschritte in Forschung, Versorgung und öffentlicher Gesundheit rufen Fragen von Datenschutz und Kontrollansprüchen auf. Ein normatives Leitkonzept, das in den vergangenen Jahren beim Umgang mit Daten in den Vordergrund tritt, ist Datensouveränität